Gabriele Tarquini on top in FP1 at Motegi

Castrol Honda Racing’s Gabriele Tarquini led the second session of the weekend at Twin Ring Motegi in his Honda Civic WTCC, leading Norbert Michelisz by over half a second.

Tarquini set the first target of 1m57.353s early in the session, bettering his timing following a brief timing glitch to a time of 1m57.127s to finish the session on top, again ahead of Michelisz, while it was Loeb who was now third fastest for Citroën, with José María López having been the interloper yesterday for the French manufacturer.

The session was uneventful after this point, with no improvement in times for any drivers and no offs or excursions.

Tiago Monteiro was again fourth for Honda, with Loeb preventing the Japanese manufacturer from locking out the top three positions at their home circuit. Yvan Muller was fifth fastest for Citroën, with Mehdi Bennani sixth quickest in the Sébastien Loeb Racing-run Citroën C-Elysée.